Business leaders from China's coastal Zhejiang Province were in Hong Kong on Tuesday to promote investment and sought to use the international trade and financial hub as a platform to make their firms go international.

The firms represented in the business delegation headed by Zhao Hongzhu, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, were mostly privately owned. They operate in sectors such as trade, tourism, finance, housing, among others.

With a population of 51.2 million, Zhejiang is one of the richest provinces in China. It is part of the Yangtze River Delta, which has emerged as one of the manufacturing hubs and growth drivers of the Chinese economy over the past decades.

Zhao said industries from the two places had a lot to do to further cooperation, particularly in the service sector, given that the service industries contributed about 90 percent to Hong Kong's gross domestic product but only 43 percent to Zhejiang's GDP.

A forum will be held for Zhejiang-based private enterprises, with star guests including Jack Ma, founding chairman of Alibaba Group.

Rita Lau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, called on the Zhejiang businesses to cooperate with the Hong Kong industries that have a competitive edge.

Zhejiang firms will be welcome to seek public listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, she added.

Zhejiang had a gross domestic product of 2.1 trillion yuan (269 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008 and a per capita GDP of 6,078 U.S. dollars, according to statistics released by the Zhejiang provincial statistical authorities.

Hong Kong has been making efforts in recent years to bolster its traditional industries and diversify into service industries where it has a competitive edge.

Editor: Charlie

Source: Xinhua